


Erik - Refictionalization

by qxzenith



Series: Refics and Wall Emergencies - The Wall Will Fall [11]
Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms, The Wall Will Fall
Genre: F/M, Girlfriend in Canada - Freeform, Lightning Reveal, TWWF, The Wall Will Fall - Freeform, song lyrics from andrew lloyd weber's phantom of the opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-23 03:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23905111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qxzenith/pseuds/qxzenith
Summary: In the fall and winter of 2012, the TVTropes team behind Echo Chamber ran an incredible ARG (Alternate Reality Game) called The Wall Will Fall. The premise of the game was that the Fourth Wall between fiction and reality was fracturing, and needed to be repaired as fictional characters fell through into our world. Part of the game mechanic was the writing of fanfiction, involving specific characters, settings, and tropes, to return the characters in question to fiction.This series consists of the pieces I wrote for these events, although only three of my attempts were chosen as canon in the game.This piece was NOT chosen as canon, and Erik was never refictionalized - he was part of a cabal of characters who wanted to stay in our world, and who were, for the most part, ultimately granted amnesty. We were nonetheless asked to write refictionalizations for him as leverage to ensure he kept his end of the deal; the criteria was that it had to include him in his original setting, with the tropes Lightning Reveal and Girlfriend in Canada.
Relationships: Raoul de Chagny/Christine Daaé
Series: Refics and Wall Emergencies - The Wall Will Fall [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721554





	Erik - Refictionalization

**Author's Note:**

> In the fall and winter of 2012, the TVTropes team behind Echo Chamber ran an incredible ARG (Alternate Reality Game) called The Wall Will Fall. The premise of the game was that the Fourth Wall between fiction and reality was fracturing, and needed to be repaired as fictional characters fell through into our world. Part of the game mechanic was the writing of fanfiction, involving specific characters, settings, and tropes, to return the characters in question to fiction.
> 
> This series consists of the pieces I wrote for these events, although only three of my attempts were chosen as canon in the game.
> 
> This piece was NOT chosen as canon, and Erik was never refictionalized - he was part of a cabal of characters who wanted to stay in our world, and who were, for the most part, ultimately granted amnesty. We were nonetheless asked to write refictionalizations for him as leverage to ensure he kept his end of the deal; the criteria was that it had to include him in his original setting, with the tropes Lightning Reveal and Girlfriend in Canada.

_And though it's clear_

_Though it was always clear_

_That this was never meant to be_

_If you ever find a moment--_

_Spare a thought for me._

Raoul walked tensely through the graveyard, his right hand clutching his sword hilt as he held the lamp up with his left, making sure to keep it at the level of his eyes. The lamp cast a dismal, dim glow on the ground beneath him without really illuminating the damp night.

"I know you're here!" he called out, "I can hear you singing to her!"

The rain began to fall then, and as he took another step the flame of his lamp fizzled out, leaving him in pitch blackness. Refusing to show his fear to the unseen man he knew was watching him, somehow, in the darkness, he plunged on blindly. "Show yourself!" he demanded, his voice, full of bravado, echoing as the soundwaves bounced back from the headstones.

As if on cue, a fork of lightning sparked across the sky, making his surroundings, for one fleeting instant, bright as day-- long enough for him to see where the Phantom of the Opera, or whoever that man truly was, stood with Christine Daae, not so far from where Raoul was now. He hurried on to apprehend them.

He began to draw his sword, but froze as  _something_ seemed to bump up against him; a moment later, he realized that it was Christine, who had run to him as he approached.

"He was saying goodbye, Raoul," she whispered.

Clutching Christine to his side protectively, Raoul looked ahead to where he knew the Phantom stood, willing his eyes to adjust to the darkness so that he could see. "Saying goodbye?"

"Indeed," came the bass voice that Christine had come to know so well. "I mean no insult to Miss Daae when I say that there is a young lady in an Italian opera house who has come to my attention as... more deserving of my tutelage. I shall to her at once. I give you and Miss Daae my best wishes for a future in which I doubt I shall see either of you again."

_Say you'll share with me_

_One love, one lifetime_

_Anywhere you go_

_Let me go, too--_

_That's all I ask of you._

Erik was a little surprised at how swiftly they accepted his weak answer, a little jealous at the happy couple they made as they turned away from him. He knew what he was giving up, after all-- but the events of the past weeks had taught him that he did not  _have_ to be the monster he was seen as. He knew he could not start again with Christine, with Paris, not now; but surely a new place would offer him new chances.

He had heard that there were well-esteemed men in Italy these days who would, indeed, overlook his blemished face to respect him for the brilliance of his mind, the beauty of his music. If such men indeed existed in this time, then he was determined to seek them out, to once again surround himself with sympathetic, like-minded individuals.

And who knew but that he might prove as good as his word-- that there might be some golden-voiced Italian ingenue out there, waiting for his guidance, ready to see the man behind the mask.

Erik allowed himself one last wistful glance at the receding figure of Christine Daae, now in the arms of her Raoul, before turning around to face whatever the future had in store.


End file.
